Geno Auriemma, UConn women’s basketball players react to Ice Brady’s season-ending knee injury

As UConn women’s basketball began practice at Werth Champions Center Friday Ice Brady had no choice other than to sit and watch. With a sense of longing in her eyes, the forward looked on from a chair behind the baseline, her right leg in a brace and resting on another chair in front of her while crutches stood propped up to her right.

Brady will miss her freshman season after suffering a dislocated patella in her right knee during practice last Friday. She had successful surgery at UConn Health Tuesday and began rehab Wednesday. She’s the second UConn player to suffer a season-ending knee injury ahead of this season, after Paige Bueckers tore the ACL in her left knee in August. It’s a tough blow for the program following a 2021-22 season filled with injuries for the Huskies.

“Everybody was just really disappointed for Ice because she had worked really, really hard and she had made so much progress and fit in so easily into what we were doing,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma told reporters before practice Friday. “It’s just one of those unfortunate things that you just keep seeing weird things that make you shake your head and wonder what’s the limit on weird things you can see.”

Auriemma explained that Brady’s knee injury was no contact when it happened in practice.

“Nobody near her and not even like land and something happens,” Auriemma said. “Just the foot slips and then you land the wrong way.”

Azzi Fudd said her heart sank when it happened. It hurt her to see Brady down and yelling out in pain.

“I teared up a little bit, that’s my little freshman right there,” Fudd said. “But I’m really proud of her right now. She’s doing really well, staying positive.”

Aubrey Griffin knows what it’s like to be forced to sit on the sidelines after missing all of last season due to injuries, most notably a disc injury in her back that she had surgery for in January. It’s important to her and the rest of the Huskies to support Brady as she navigates this process.

“It’s tough getting injured right before the season,” Griffin said. “We’re all just trying to be there for her and just talk to her if she needs any advice.”

All but two Huskies missed at least two games with injuries or illness last season. Griffin missed the entire season. Bueckers was out for 19 games with a tibial plateau fracture and torn meniscus. Fudd missed 11 games with a foot injury. Nika Mühl also dealt with a lingering foot injury that kept her out three games. Caroline Ducharme was out four games at one point and then had hip surgery over the offseason. Dorka Juhász suffered a broken left wrist in the Elite Eight.

Having so many players go down with injuries over the course of last season to now has been unlike anything Auriemma has seen at UConn. The Huskies had a bad stretch of injuries in the late 1990s and early 2000s, during which Shea Ralph tore her ACL twice, Nykesha Sales tore her Achilles, Sue Bird tore her ACL and Svetlana Abrosimova suffered a foot injury. He explained the biggest difference is it’s affecting more players this time around.

“I don’t even know how to describe it,” Auriemma said. “Because the worst thing about any injury is the kids see themselves in it, like what if that’s me, you know? What if I have to go through that?”

That sentiment has rung true for Fudd. She said the injuries have been a reminder of how nothing is guaranteed and she has to value every moment she gets on the court.

Fudd and the rest of the Huskies also know people around the country may be doubting them. Though it doesn’t get any easier to see teammates go down with injuries, the Huskies have been here before.

“I would say especially with last year, I hate to say it, but we’re used to injuries, we’re used to this kind of adversity and these kinds of setbacks,” Fudd said. "So like I said, we all know that nothing is given … Just being grateful for the team that we have, the players that we do have with us and healthy, and just gotta go from there.”

As for preventing injuries in the future, Auriemma said “They’re all just freak things that happen that you can’t explain why.” He threw out a few theories such as sport specialization and overtraining in high school that wear down on players’ bodies by the time they get to college. Ultimately he thinks these types of injuries are just part of the sport now.

“There’s never been in the history of college basketball, you know, athletic trainers all over the country, strength and conditioning coaches, to do more preventive stuff than it’s ever been done any time in the history of this game,” Auriemma said. “You look around and everybody’s got to deal with something. So it’s got to be bigger than that, you know, it’s got to be something that I think we’ve all been trying to address is what happens when these kids are in high school and how much they train and overtrain and lack of playing other sports.

“So we’ve all talked about it with doctors and specialists and people who do this stuff and they said, never in history have this many kids been so sheltered in terms of one sport and that’s it, all year round, it’s almost like there’s no offseason. I don’t like it, but that’s the world that they live in. And a lot of kids, not just here, they go to college with preexisting problems that now you got to deal with. So it’s just a different world and it’s unfortunate.”